Child dropped like ‘sack of spuds’, tribunal told

An early childhood teacher is facing an Education Council disciplinary tribunal after roughly throwing a twoyear-old child on the floor, according to witnesses.

On September 1, 2016, the child was in the care of an early childhood centre when she refused to get out of bed.

A witness to the alleged event said the teacher grabbed the child by the back of her sweatshirt, raised her about a metre off the ground before she was dropped on the floor.

‘‘She dropped her like you would a sack of spuds.’’

The child appeared shocked after she was dropped to the floor and soon began to cry.

The teacher who witnessed the event rushed over and asked, ‘‘What are you doing? You don’t treat a child like that’’ before picking the child up and comforting her on her lap. The teacher then apologised to the child.

Details about the early childcare centre and the teacher are suppressed.

The teacher who allegedly dropped the child said the incident was ‘‘out of her character’’, that she ‘‘loved’’ the child but was frustrated at ‘‘working with people that are lazy’’.

She disputed having ever dropped the child ‘‘like a sack of spuds’’.

She said the child was not sleeping but playing on the unmade bed when asked by the witness to ready the children for nap time.

After the incident the teacher said the child was not harmed and only began crying when a fuss was made over her by the other teacher.